Posts Tagged ‘freelance’

Its been around 4 months now that I quit the secure & safe prospects of my job to start-up as a freelance consultant. It has been a mixed bag of feelings upto now. I had my own feelings when I was almost convinced of starting-up. Few things I thought will be good have turned out to be much better (so much better that I even took those situations for granted at times)….and few things I thought that “Yes, this could be bad. I should be mentally prepared.”…turned out to be much worse, to the point of breaking up.

I am not planning way ahead into the future. I am not made like that. I am certain that am into this for next few years now, so soon I need to create a team, some staff…basically build up into a small company. It’s all very easy to sing about the joys and pains…the challenges and thrills of being an entrepreneur, but now when i am into it, my advice is “What on earth makes someone to get into this chaos??”

To make it short & simple, let me bullet my ideas.

What it demands:

1. Self-Discipline. And loads of it. Or you will find yourself doing all other tasks other than work

2. Patience and Positivity. Again lots of it. In my third month I was almost a wreck. Sitting and working alone in a room the whole day is no feast. Esp. when you don’t have much friends/social life in the city. It is just some subtle inangible feeling of optimism and hope that has been sailing me through these tough times.

3 . Vision. I won’t say much on this since I lack this. What i must say is that it has got a lot to do with self-belief and confidence.

4. Multi-Tasking. You are on your own. If you don’t pay the bills on time, the internet/electricity is gone. If you don’t get the systems maintenance, they brake on the day when you just cannot afford it. In other words, it’s planning your day and executing it well (ie., time-management). This has been my weakest link. 😦

5. Networking. You are cut-off from the outside world. No more chats by the office water-cooler or the coffee machine. There are no emails coming from the senior management briefing you about what’s happening in the outside world. Nobody is reaching out to me. I have to reach out to others.

Now the good points…What does starting-up provides you. Though each point below comes with a caveat: “Don’t go overboard!!!”

1. Be Your Own Boss. Yes..that is true! 🙂 You don’t feel like working today…fine go out for a break. You don’t want to miss the IND-PAK match..go ahead watch it. Your girlfriend/wife says that you don’t have time for her…now she won’t. 😀 But again, don’t go overboard. You are accountable to your clients here and want to be in their good books. And that’s what you are here for.

2. Do your own things. Did you plan to take those Salsa classes?? Have u been thinking of learning a sport?? Do it now brother! With a pinch of self-discipline and effective time-management, a lot can be achieved.

3. Out of the herd. You are pushed, rather you have pulled yourself apart from the crowd. You are on your own. So you learn to market yourself and convince your prospective clients. And this is something I am learning the most.

Now that I have touched this area of discussion, would write on this later.